May 19, 1943 - December 20, 2020
Sculptor, Founder of The NewYork Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture
Marc Zimetbaum, a resident of Eger Healthcare and Nursing Home on Staten Island, passed away peacefully on the evening of Sunday, December 20, 2020 from symptoms and complications due to Covid-19.
Marc was born in Beth Israel Hospital In Newark, New Jersey, the first child of Raymond and Mildred Zimetbaum (nee Dworkin). He attended Hawthorne Avenue Elementary School followed by the nationally acclaimed Weequahic High School which also ranked number one in New Jersey at the time of Marc’s attendance. Marc was one of the top five students of his graduating class, was a member of the Mathematics Club, was elected Senior Class President and created and named the school’s literary publication, Ergo, for which he was Editor in Chief. It is still in publication today. He was a lifelong member of the Weequahic High School Alumni Association and enjoyed attending their reunions. Many classmates remained his friends and kept in touch throughout the years.
His love affair with art began at a young age. While attending Weequahic, Marc made the trip from Newark to Brooklyn to study art, on Saturdays, at Pratt Institute. The Zimetbaums were art lovers and often offered their home as a gallery to artist friends. Marc was exposed to many fine artists including works by Esteban Vicente and James Rosati hanging on his living room walls.
In his junior year of college at Pratt Institute as an art major, Marc became increasingly stifled and disappointed with the programming there. He wanted to be a fine artist spending most of his time in creative pursuit in the studio. The school did not have a Fine Arts major, so he was required to enter the Arts Education program geared toward teaching. After reading an article published in Art News Magizine, written by Mercedes Matter (who would later become his mentor and idol), Marc decided it was time to start a new art school devoted to the learning and development process that happens for all artists in the studio. He approached Mercedes Matter, a student of Hans Hofmann and a giant of the Abstract Expressionist movement, along with a few of his friends and classmates, about creating this new concept of an art school. The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture opened in 1964 in a loft on Broadway in New York City. It later expanded and moved to the old Whitney Museum building on 8th Street in Greenwich Village where it still operates today. In an interview, Marc stated, “I’ve been involved, all my artistic life, with the figure, trying to create an image that grows out of perception, in an attempt to capture a particular model in a particular pose without slavish preconceptions or reliance on anatomy that tends to dehumanize, rather than bring a figure to life.”
As a working New York artist his entire life, Marc lived in Brooklyn, the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Staten Island, always remaining an active member of the art community. He was well known as the third floor manager at the Pearl Paint Company on Canal Street for many years. He also managed the New York Studio School’s art store called Manet On Eighth for a number of years. Marc was a volunteer at The Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island, which features and preserves the art and legacy of John Noble. He donated his artwork to benefit their annual art auction. He also worked there as a docent and manager of the gift shop. For eighteen years, Marc worked as a sculpture instructor at The Art Lab school of art at Snug Harbor. At Wagner College, Marc was most proud of the group he created for sculptors who shared the cost of a live model, which met every Saturday morning. He so looked forward to Saturdays, working and chatting with his pals. Eventually, new students were attracted to the class and he became an instructor. The Wagner College Figure Sculpture Group showed a number of times at The Kade Gallery at the college.
In the early years of the new millennium, Marc was invited by Don Kimes, Director of The Chautauqua Institution School of Art, to teach during their renowned summer program. Marc taught every summer up until 2014, often spending an entire month there, teaching sculpture and drawing, collaborating, showing his work in group shows and working in his studio. He was very proud to be a part of the group show, 100th Anniversary: The Chautauqua School of Art, in 2010. A biographical film created by Mark Ozz and Erick Emerick entitled, Marc Zimetbaum: A Portrait Of The Artist, was screened in 2006 at The Hall Of Christ at Chautauqua Institution. The fertile, creative and inspiring atmosphere of Chautauqua and its school of art, and the exceptional talent of his colleagues, from the best art institutions from all over the country, gave Marc more than a decade of experience and a gift which fed his soul.
Marc’s art work was shown extensively in New York over the years. In Manhattan, he showed at the The New York Studio School Alumni Show, the Pyramid Gallery, Gallery 220, SOHO 20 Gallery, the Organization of Independent Artists, the David McKee Gallery, The Bowery, Blue Mountain and Prince Street Galleries. Marc is also often remembered for starting the Duane Street Gallery as founder and director in 1971. The gallery was immediately, memorably though briefly successful, showing some of the best the New York art scene had to offer at the time. Unfortunately, it closed before the end of the first year. As a member of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC) in Red Hook, Brooklyn, he was a participant in two group shows in 2012 and 2013. On Staten Island, Marc showed at the Art Lab Gallery, The Kade Gallery, Gallery ETG with Eve LeBer, The Garden in The Forest Gallery also with Eve LeBer, The Newhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, The Vlepo Gallery, and The Art By The Ferry Pop Up Gallery. In 2005, as a participant of the Staten Island Museum Juried Art Show, Marc won the Weissglass Award Purchase Prize. His cut-out entitled “Morandi” is now part of their permanent collection. Marc also lectured and showed at a number of universities and venues across the country. He had a solo exhibition as a visiting artist and lecturer at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois in 2004. In 2009, he was again invited as a visiting artist and lecturer for a one man show at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri.
Marc was the recipient of a grant from the Rothko Foundation in 1974, and the New York Foundation For The Arts in 2001. In 2005, at the suggestion of his dear friend and advisor, Harriet Vicente, Marc applied for and received a grant from The Harriet & Esteban Vicente Trust in order to write a book about his experience during the early years of The New York Studio School. It was written and compiled, presently unfinished, but to be completed and released in the future.
Marc is survived by his sister, Lisa Max Zimet and her husband Philip Popkin, his former wives Nancy Lewis, Eve LeBer and Janet Rispoli, his daughter Erica Zimetbaum and her husband Guy Johnson, his daughter Ruby Zimetbaum Oyola, his son Red LeBer, his niece Rebecca Royen, and granddaughters Sylvia Johnson and Sienna Oyola.
A memorial service celebrating the life of Marc Zimetbaum will be planned for the summer of 2021, when it is safe for us all to gather
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